FAMILY TIES.

• Author: Saylor, Teri
• Position: FARMING NC: EXPLORING AGRIBUSINESS

Families or individuals own about 85% of North Carolina's farms. They play a large role in the state's agriculture industry, whose economic impact is poised to surpass $100 million.

Pick up a carton of eggs at your local grocery store, and chances are good that they were laid at Braswell Family Farms in Nash County, The nation's second-largest Eggland franchise, which also sells eggs under its Natural Choice banner, has been in the egg business for nearly a half century. "We're a fourth-generation family farm," says Trey Braswell, company president. "Our business began in 1943, when my great-great-uncle J.M. Braswell and great-grandad E.G Braswell purchased Boddie Mill."

Braswell's father, Scott, launched the family farm's egg operation in 1979. Today, Braswell Family Farms has a flock of about 1.7 million egg-laying hens, which produce about 1.4 million eggs each day. It has 225 employees and helps about 40 small family farms raise egg-laying chickens. "So, we not only have our own production facilities, we are able to help others thrive and provide for their families through our partnerships with other family farms," Braswell says.

Farms run by families and individuals are an important part of North Carolina's agriculture industry, which contributes $95.9 billion to the state's economy, according to Michael Walden, the recently retired William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor and extension economist at N.C. State University. They represent about 85% of the 39,452 North Carolina farms counted in the U.S. Department of Agriculture's 2017 Census of Agriculture, the most recent available. Corporate farms, on the other hand, made up about 7%.

Family farms will continue to contribute to agriculture's economic impact, which N.C. Agriculture Secretary Steve Troxler believes will soon surpass $100 billion. "This is an industry with a bright future" he said in a January interview. "Food and fiber production will always be essential. And, as our population grows, so does the...